Latch



E. APPLEGATE. LATCH. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7, 1920.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921;

F 6/772 ff/YES,- flp INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y5 at area.

V LATCH.

' Application filed September T 0 all u izomit mag concern.

I Be it known that l, Ennesr-Arrnnsxrn, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Rushville, county of Bush. and State of Indiana, haveinvented a certain new and useful Latch; and Tdo hereby declare that thefollowingis a full, clear and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals refer to likeparts.

This invention relates to latches and the chief object'of this inventionis to provide a latch which consists of but few parts and these ofcheapconstruction, and at the same time so construct said parts that thesame, when in the latching position, will be locked and maintained insaid position.

The chief feature of the invention consists in associating-the two eyemembers and an intermediate latching member having a swivel connectionwith one of said eye members and a locking connection with the other eyemember, said intermediate latching member being provided with a handleportion for readily moving the same, and which is adapted to maintainthe latch in the latching position at all times.

The full nature of this invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claim.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of the latching memberembodying the features of the invention. 2 is an elevational view of theend of a vehicle body showing the same provided with a hinged anddivided tail gate with the invention applied thereto. Fig. 3 is a planview of the same. hinged tail gate applied to a vehicle body with theinvention associated therewith in another position.

In the drawings 10 indicates the side portions of a vehicle body, 11"and 11 indicating the divided-tail gate associated therewith andhingedly supported at 12 by said side portions. The adjacent free endsof the hinged tail gate sections 11 and 11 are adapted to be lockedtogether by means of the improved latch shown in perspective in Fig. 1.Associated with each of the tail gate sections is an eye member, onebeing termed the supporting eye member 13 and the other termed thereceiving eye member 14, said eye members being secured to therespective tail gate sections in any suitable Specification of LettersPatent.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of a Patented Oct. :25, 1921.

7, 1920. Serial No. 408,604.

manner, such as by means of the nuts 15. As shown clearly in Figs. 2 and8 the eye members 13 and 14 are preferably positioned such that theplanes in which the same lie extend transversely of each other.

Associated with the transversely positioned eye members is the latchingmember 16, which latching member is provided at one end with an eye 17and at the other end with a hook 18. The eye 17 is adapted to beassociated with the eye 13 to form a swivel connection which permitssaid latch ing member 16 to be rocked in two planes, or in a planeintermediate the same. The other end of the latching member 16 ishookshaped and is adapted to be seated in the eye member 14 and saidhook portion is adapted to encircle the outer portion of the eye member14 and rest thereon.

Intermediate the two end portions 17 and 18, and connecting the same toform the latching member, is a curved portion 19 which is preferablyelongated, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, to form a handle portion. lVhenformed as shown, or in a substantially similar manner, it will beunderstood that the handle portion provides a grip whereby the latchingmember 16 may be swiveled upon the eye member 13 in the desireddirection until the free end 18 registers with the opening in the eyemember 14, and said handle member then may be turned so as to cause thehook 18 to rest upon the eye member 14, as shown clearly in Figs. 2 and3. Since the handle portion 19 is elongated, as shown, when saidlatching member is released, the same is positioned by gravity, as shownby the full line position of said memher in Fig. 2. Thus, the handleportion maintains said latching member in the locked position, since thefree end 18 partially encircles the outer portion of the eye member 14.With this construction the handle member 19 maintains said parts in thelatched position in spite of any jarring to which the vehicle may besubjected. 1V hen it is desired to unlatch the tail gate members, thehandle portion 19 thereof is grasped, raised from the depending verticalposition outwardly and upwardly into substantially an elevated verticalposition, whereupon the locking end 18 may be withdrawn from the eyemember 14 and said latching member freed therefrom, thereupon whenreleased said latching member moves to the dotted line position shown inFig. 2.

In Fig. 4 the latch is shown applied to another form of tail gateconstruction, wherein the tail gate 111 is hingedly supported upon thebottom of the vehicle body and said tail gate is latched to thesupporting side 110. The latched and unlatohed positions of the improvedlatch are shown in Fig. i by the full and dotted lines respectively.

\Vhile the invention has been described in considerable detail it willbe understood that many modifications thereof will readily suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art, but these modifications are allwithin, the broad purview of the invention, which is a latching memberprovided with a swivel connection at one end and a latch and lookingconnection at the other end and an intermediate handle portion foractuating the same, said handle portion being adapted to look said lookinto latching position. As illustrated in Fig. 1 the latch is preferablyformed of an elongated rod bent to form a swivel connection, a hookconnection and a curved handle portion.

The invention claimed is:

A latching member for two relatively movable members, each having aneye, said eyes being'positioned substantially at right angles to eachother, comprising an eyesupporting portion secured to one of said eyesto provide a swivel connection between the moving member and thelatching memher, a looped handle portion lying in substantially the sameplane as the latching member eye portion, and a partially closed hookportion receivable by the other eye and connected to the handle portionand lying in a plane substantially at right angles to the eye-supportingportion, said latching member being revoluble about an axissubstantially that including the swivel eyetorining axis to position thefree end of the 1 book in the other transversely positioned eye when ina plane above that including said transversely positioned eye, and beingreturnable into a plane substantially that including the transverse axesof the movable member eyes, said partially closed hook por tion beinglocked to the associated eye by the weight of the handle portion whenreleased and being maintained in said locked position by the weight ofthe latching memher.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

ERNEST APPLEGATE.

